Improvement in rake and tedder combined



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. team Parmi No. 99,923, dma Femm 15, 1870.

`IIMIEIROVIEIIMENT IN RAKE AND COMBINED. l

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and, making peut of thesame.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOSEPH M. Low, ofPortlandville, in the county of Otsego, and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Combined Hay-Rakes andTedders; and I do hercer, as'will be hereinafter fully set forth.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my inventionappeitains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe itsconstruction and operation, referring to the annexed drawings, in which-Figure l is a side elevation of my machine;

Figure 2 is a plan'view of the same; and

Figure 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the fork or tedder showingthe manner in which I propose to attach the same to the arm. i

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the tedder-arm.

A represents the axle of my machine mounted upon wheels B B.

Upon the axle are placed two beams C G at suitabledistance apart, andextending the desired distance in front ofthe axle,so as to attach theshafts D D to their front ends.

Between the beams O C on the axle A is secured a frame, E, whichsupports the seat F. The front end of the frame E and cf the entiremachine is supported by an adjustable vertical rod, G, forked at itslcwerl end, and carrying the wheel H. By adjusting this rod and wheel bymeans of screws and nuts, the depth at -which the rake is to operateisreadily regulated.

Across the front -ends of the beams C G, parallel with the axle, issecured a bar, I, to which the raketeeth a a are attached, said barforming the rake-head.

In the drawing, 1 have shown the teeth ta attached to the bar I by meansof one continuous plate, b, extending the whole length of the bar, andsecured to its upper side. This plate is grooved longitudinally in thecenter from the under side, and provided with slots, through which theends of the teeth are inserted, and bent so as to follow the groove iuthe plate, each tooth being thus, as it were, hingedseparately andindependently of the rest to the rake-head.

In a full-sized machine I shall, however, not employ lone continuousplate, but a smaller plate, of similar construction, to each tooth, sothat any one of them can be removed, it' desired, without disturbing therest. From the bar L, extending toward the rear, are two metal straps dd, which for-n1 hinges for a bar, f, said bar running under therake-teeth a a, parallel with the rake-head, the teeth 'resting upon thesame.

0n each side of each of the rake-teeth on the bar f is a wooden pin, e,which pins connect said bar with another similar bar, f', placed abovethe' teeth, and form guides between which the teeth are allowed tovibrate. The bars f and f' are also used to lock the teeth and to raisethem up from the ground in the following manner:

On the frame E, in suitable journal-boxes, is laid a shaft, J, having atone end a lever, K, so arranged that the` driver fromhis seat at F caneasily reach and operate the same. v A

At each end of the shaft J is an arm, g, to the front 'end of which ispivoted another arm, h, and this latter arm is in turn pivoted to a bar,L, the rear end of which passes through a loop, lc, on the under side ofthe axle A. The front end of the barL is forked, and

in the same is pivoted a bent lever, l, the upper end of which forms aloop surrounding the bar f.

It will be seen thatby turning the lever K forward, the bar f is drawndown so as to bear against the upper side of the rake-teeth, holdingthemy down and preventing them from vibrating. By moving -the lever K sothat the bar f will bear against the upper portion of the stops d, therake-teeth are allowed to vibrate between the pins e e the entiredistance between the bars f and f. By moving the leverK toward the rear,the curved levers ll raise the bars f f', and with them the rake-teethentirely from the ground.

The' bars and curved levers l l are so arranged that when the rake israised from the ground, as above mentioned, they lock themselves, and donot require any additional device for holding the rake up when moving toor from the field.

A frame, M, is hinged to the rear side of the axle A by means ofstrap-hinges m m passed around the axle on the outside of tli'e bars OO.

The frame M is supported by means of two bent spring-supports, nn,.secured.to the rear end of the bars G.

In suitable journal-boxes on the rear end ot' the frame M is placed acrank-shaft, N, provided with any desired number of cranks, upon each ofwhich is pivoted an arm, O, having at its lower end the fork forspreading the hay.

The upper ends ofthe arms O O pass through pivoted boxes p p upon theside of a bar, P, supported by means of adjustable standards R R fromthe frame M. By moving the standards R B so as to mo've the bar Pfurther forward or toward the rear,vthe action ofthe forks or tedders isreadily regulated, and the frame M being hinged to the axle, as abovedescribed, theft-ame can readily, by means of a lever or other suitabledevice, be raised and lowered at will, so' as to accommodate the forksto any ground the machine may have to pass over. y

Upon the lower end vofeach arrh- O is placed a colar, fr, having a pin,s, projecting on each side. The allai' with its pins are cast together,the pins being iollow. Y

The fork t being now'placed .on the pin s, and its ipper end insertedn aslot, a nut is placed upon the :nd of the pin, which firmly secures thefork in place. 3y this means if one fork should break it can readily )eremoved without disturbing the other.

Upon-the end of the arm 0 is a nut, u, of such' diimeter as to preventtheeollar fr from falling oli', and 'ibove said collar, onthe arm, is aspiial spring,w,

)caring vagainst the upper end of the .collar, allowingv t,whennecessary, to yield suciently, sliding up on Lhe arm O, the springalways bringing the collar backigain to the end of the arm.

The crank-shaft N, with arms 0 O and '.forks, are Jperated in thefollowing manner:

Upon the inner sides ofthe wheels B B are placed ;oothed wheels T T,which, by means of chains V V,

tre connected with sprocket-pinions :v a: on the crank.

shaft. The inner sides of these pinions are toothed, and gear withtoothed collars y y secured to the crank- ;hat, the pinions being placedloosely on the saine, tud pressed inward to the collars by means of,spiral springs 'Z z, as shown in the drawing.

It will be seen that when the machine moves forward, the pinions x vwill gear with the collars y y, and )perate the forks, 'but as soon 'asthe machine backs np, the pinions will slide away from the collars, andnot turn the crank-shaft.

' The operator, from his seat at F, can throw the-pinlons out of gear byab lever, a', pivoted on the under side of the frame M. This lever isforked at its rear and, and'operates two T -shaped levers, lfb', whichare )ivoted together, and also one on the" under side of each ofthe sidebeams of the frame M. The levers b' 5 are connected with the pinions xx, so as to move them away from the collars y y whenever so desired.

Having thus fully described'my invention,

What I claim as new-, and desire. to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The bars ff', stops a a, and stationary head I, combinedsubstantially as and for thepurpose described.

Y 2.V The combination and arrangement of the shaft J,

lever K, arms g g and 7l,l It, bars L L, and curved levers l l, allsubstantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

' 3. The frame M, provided with strap-hinges m m forvfastening to theaxle A, and supported by the4 supports n n, substantially as shown anddescribed.

4. The adjustable standards R R, with crossbar P, provided withswivel-boxes jp p for the upper ends of vthe fork-arms `to pass through,substantially as. and for the purposes herein set forth.

5. The collar r, provided on each side with a hollowl pin, s, and nutfor securing the fork t, substantially as' herein set forth.

6. In combination with the collar lr, constructed as described,'the nutu and spring w,substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

7. The sprocket-pinion x, toothed collar y, spring z, in combinationwith the T-shaped levers b b', all arranged to operate as and for thepurposes set forth.

In `testimony th'at I claim the foregoing as my own,

l affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

` J. M. LOW.

Witnesses:

T, F. ALEXANDER, JOHN A. Ennis.

